Category: Individual action

Today I will be looking into one of the biggest killers in our ocean¹.

But before I go on, I’d like you all to watch this video:

Sad isn’t it? We think that once the fish are caught that’s the end of the fishing, but it isn’t. Ghost nets can remain in the water for years, possibly centuries, depending on their design. They don’t just catch fish and sea creatures though, they have occasionally caught divers³ too. The worst is, the more it catches the more that are tempted in, and the nets rarely become too full, as when the weight is too great, they can sink where they’re picked clean by bottom dwellers, and then float back to the surface to repeat the process all over again. The only good news is that the longer the nets are there the more tangled they become which can limit the amount of entanglement they cause². The worse ones are buoy nets as they will definitely float back to the surface.

It isn’t just the organisms they catch but also the habitats they destroy, ghost nets can suffocate coral reefs⁶, which in turn then destroys the ecosystem that they support, breaking down whole food chains and life cycles.

So why do people abandon their nets? Some are simply lost in storms or bad weather, but there are some which when they become damaged are just abandoned where they are⁵. Or there is illegal fishing, snagged lines, there are lots of reasons it happens. But we can limit the issue.

Divers all over the world can take part in ocean cleans, to remove ghost nets, this group work globally with different diving organisations and charities to save our oceans. They don’t just remove the ghost nets though, they collect marine litter, recycle what they collect, document situations and educate, and it all started with a group of wreck divers. So never believe that you and your club couldn’t make a difference.

You don’t just have to be a diver though, snorkelers, boaters, just normal swimmers can help too. But please don’t get yourself injured on the way, make sure you’re in a group and other people know what is happening. If you see a trapped animal make sure you’re not in danger from it.

It’s working too, there is now legislation to try and reduce the amount of ghost nets in the water, new gear has markers so it can be linked to a specific fishing group, there is more technology to prevent gear being lost or from sinking to the seabed. They have even redesigned fishing gear so it degrades easier⁴. New biodegradable fishing nets should begin to degrade within two years⁵, which means after that time the net will have lost most of its ability to catch marine organisms, and if it does the could break free much easier⁵.

Small steps forward to safer healthier oceans, but steps all the same. Why not take part?

In the last ten years we have produced more plastic then we did in the last century, enough plastic is thrown away each year to circle the earth four times! Plastic is the largest source of marine litter in the ocean, billions of pounds of plastic can be found in ocean upwelling zones making up about 40% of the world’s ocean surfaces. 80% of all pollution enters the ocean from land. Plastic is everywhere, small fragments are found nearly everywhere on earth. Harmful chemicals leached by plastics are present in the bloodstream and tissues of almost every one of us. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the biggest ocean garbage site in the world located off the coast of California in the North pacific gyre. This floating mass of plastic is twice the size of Texas, with plastic pieces outnumbering sea life six to one.

The impacts on animals

Marine animals mistake plastic for food and are constantly ingesting plastics. Fish in the North pacific ingest 12,000- 24,000 tons of plastic each year this causes internal injuries, death and bioaccumulation. (Bioaccumulation is the build up of substances or chemicals inside an organism). Sea turtles also mistake floating plastics for food such as plastic bags, which unfortunately resemble their favourite food, Jellyfish. Although loggerhead sea turtles have been found with soft plastic, ropes, Styrofoam, and monofilament lines in their stomachs. Ingestion of plastic can lead to blockage in the gut, ulceration, internal perforation and death; even if their organs remain intact, turtles may suffer from false sensations of satiation and difficulties in reproduction. Hundreds of thousands of seabirds ingest plastic every year. Plastic ingestion reduces the storage space in the stomach, causing birds to consume less food and eventually starve. They also feed the small pieces plastic from their stomach to their chicks, mistaking it for food.

Marine animals are also suffocated by plastics such as carrier bags and six pack holders, which can block air passageways and/or cause abnormal growth patterns.

Entanglement occurs when common items like fishing line, strapping bands and six-pack rings get wrapped around animals affecting their mobility. Once entangled, animals have trouble eating, breathing and/or swimming, all of which can have fatal results. Marine mammals suffer from entanglement the most as they are larger. Large amounts of plastic have been found in the habitat of endangered Hawaiian monk seals, including in areas that serve as pup nurseries. Entanglement deaths are severely undermining recovery efforts of this seal, which is already on the brink of extinction. Entanglement in plastic debris has also led to injury and mortality in the endangered Steller sea lion, with packing bands the most common entangling material. In 2008 two sperm whales were found stranded along the California coast with large amounts of fishing net scraps, rope and other plastic debris in their stomachs.

What can we do?

According to the European Commission, 800,000 tonnes of single-use plastic bags are used every year in the European Union. The average citizen used 191 of them in 2010, and only 6% were recycled. More than four billion bags are thrown away each year in Europe. Indeed, the on-going problems associated with disposable plastic bags have prompted councils to find ways of getting shoppers to cut down. And so the 5p charge was introduced to the UK, the scheme aims to reduce the use of single-use plastic carrier bags, and the litter associated with them, by encouraging people to re-use bags.

This is a good start but what else can be done? You can be part of the solution by making these 10 lifestyle changes today:

BUY products with little or no plastic packaging, and products made from recycled materials.

REDUCE the amount of plastic and other waste you use by Bringing Your Own metal water bottle, coffee mug, bag, etc.

RECYCLE as much as possible.

REFUSE to use plastic single-use items, such as plastic grocery bags, plastic tableware and plastic cups.

DISPOSE of your waste properly.

KEEP storm drains clean.

SPREAD the word! Tell friends how to properly dispose of trash and recycling, and encourage them to Bring Their Own.

GET INVOLVED in local politics and encourage our leaders to pass bans on plastic bags, Styrofoam containers, and more.

The British coastal holiday market is estimated at £4.7billion annually. This includes another £1.2billion if you include the 110 million day-trippers. The coastal holiday market dominates the local economy of the South West of England, West of Scotland and West Wales.

If a beach is flooded in litter, you’re probably not going to visit that beach are you?

Marine litter can cause beaches to close. This has happened in the US. Consequently, littering is a high-priority issue with coastal local authorities, who may spend a great deal of money clearing litter from their beaches.

Direct costs include collect & disposal of litter a beach + higher/purchase of cleaning equipment. The hidden costs include lost revenue, education, health and harbour costs.

In a survey of 56 coastal Local Authorities, the total cost of beach cleaning was reported to be £1,953,238 for England, Scotland and Wales. This does not represent the total amount of local authorities, which is why total costs will exceed well over £2million.

The problem marine litter causes at a local level:

2 million visitors per year visit Somerset’s resort of Weston-Super-Mare. Tourist trade is worth £14 million per annum to the local economy. The recreational quality of its two beaches are therefore very important to the local community. Weston Beach is mechanically raked and swept once or twice per day in the summer, and is hand-picked in the winter.

The annual cost of cleaning on the two beaches is estimated as £100,000.

Using Marine Litter

Some people think of marine litter as rubbish that can’t be used again. Other people use marine litter to create something that can be used in everyday life. From driftwood mirrors to marine litter guitars, people can create extraordinary things out of ‘rubbish’!

Locally (Devon) we have our own treasure hunter, teacher Louise Slee, who has spent her spare time creating beautiful masterpieces from marine debris found on her local beach. Her work brings great awareness about marine litter too, if you would like to find out more about her work, she runs a Facebook page called Tregantle Beach, Trinkets, Treasures and Trash. A wonderful way to make your beach clean more arty! For more information about setting up a beach clean read our post here.

So the next time you’re walking along a beach and see some litter, take it! Start collecting plastic, wood or even glass. You never know, you could create the next mantelpiece that’s going above your fireplace or even a gift to give someone as a Christmas present.

In a previous post you learnt about eutrophication and things that can be done on a large scale to stop it, but what about us, the individuals and communities, how can we help the cause? Well in this post we will learn about just that.

First of all, if you want to learn more about eutrophication, read our previous post

So what can we do at home?

If you live near a body of water you could plant more trees and plants as they can filter the elements that lead to eutrophication. Why not make it a community activity and have a tree planting day? Make sure to receive permission of the land owner first.

Fundraise and purchase an aerator for your local water body. Hold a charity night to raise money, you could do a pollution quiz. 😉 Aerators are great because they increase the dissolved oxygen level, it will prevent the deterioration of the water. Possibly even saving the inhabitants.

If you live in a farming community why not have a town discussion on moving to organic farming, if possible. It was found that organic farm land ‘significantly reduce harmful nitrate leaching’¹ over conventional farming methods.

A side effect of eutrophication is algal blooms – this is what will definitely kill your water bodies if out of hand, so why not have a river/canal/stream clean, and remove some of the algae. Here is a link to the waterways association which can help you getting started.

Change your cleaning products. Eutrophication and algal blooms have been linked to phosphate which is found in some cleaning products², so make sure you read the labels. I know I will from now on.

In my home town we have a lot of development, and when they started developing near the canal, our local water body, people protested about wanting silt fences placed around the site to project the canal from sediment in run off. Here is a UK site that can provide them, Hy-Tex. The silt fences are widely used on construction sites because of the low cost and simplicity³, why not fight for them to be used in your area?

Yes most of these tips aren’t directly about the ocean, but streams lead to rivers, rivers lead to estuaries and estuaries lead to the ocean, and your help matters. I hope you find some of these useful, there will be more information to help with algal blooms in a coming post, and remember, every little change can make a difference.

The Ocean Cleanup is a charity that works towards preventing the Great Pacific Garbage Patch from growing any bigger. The ocean gyre is a haven for tonnes upon tonnes of marine litter and it’s a vital cause to support.

Ocean Conservancy have a sustainable vision for a healthy ocean. They use science-based solutions to tackle the biggest threats to our ocean by restoring the gulf, confronting ocean acidification and contributing to trash free seas.

SAS are working at community, corporate and government level to tackle the marine litter crisis; they have a vision to reduce UK beach litter by 50% by 2020. This is a great charity for UK residents to support for a solution closer to home, and they have multiple campaigns within their overall target.

Oceana’s vision is “to make our oceans as rich, healthy, and abundant as they once were” through fighting against overfishing, marine pollution and destructive fishing processes through identifying practical solutions and making them happen.

Greenpeace are aiming to campaign and create Ocean Sanctuaries that protect several miles of sea, enabling fish to grow bigger, produce more eggs and create a healthier more thriving ocean. They’re also fighting against littering and overfishing.

‘Sea Shepherd uses innovative direct-action tactics to investigate, document, and take action when necessary to expose and confront illegal activities on the high seas. By safeguarding the biodiversity of our delicately balanced ocean ecosystems, Sea Shepherd works to ensure their survival for future generations.’

The Plastic Pollution Coalition urges people to live by the 4 R’s – Refuse, Reuse, Recycle, Reduce. Refuse one use plastics, reuse those plastics that are resuable, recycle and reduce your consumption of plastics. They are fully in support of reducing the amount of plastics in our seas.

Have you ever seen a yellow fish painted next to a drain cover? If so it’s likely a part of the yellow fish campaign. The yellow fish campaign is run in Britain, and involves stencilling a yellow fish symbol next to drains to remind people that any waste entering them may go directly to the nearest open water – causing pollution and killing wildlife.

But we don’t put our rubbish down drains, do we? Well, we do. Litter is easily carried in water or by the wind, any dropped litter can so easily end up down a drain, and where it goes from there so unknown to us. It may go to a treatment plant, or into our waters. When in the water we really have no control over what happens next, oil is one of the biggest issues when in drain water, it doesn’t mix with water, and could potentially cause the suffocation of an entire lake. One litre of oil can pollute one million litres of drinking water⁴, a lot right? So remember only water down the drain. Oil can be recycled at local recycling centres, where it’s possibly used to make biofuel.

It’s believed that 10 % of all plastic debris ends up in the oceans¹, we might try to avoid directly placing debris in our water but, there are lots of drains that lead to water. That’s where the yellow fish campaign comes it, it raises awareness of drains which will go straight into the water works untreated. Some places the yellow fish will also tell you where they enter: beach, river, stream, lake, estuary etc. Marine litter is easily carried to the sea by the rivers².

So what kind of litter is found in these drains, in a survey it was found that 32% were tobacco products, 20% were plastic, 16% confectionary products, 16% paper, 9% glass, 4% metal, and 3% unclassified³. But Tobacco products aren’t that bad are they? 4.5 trillion cigarette butts enter the environment every year. Sadly, they will become more toxic as the filter will collect different chemicals found in the water, before some unsuspecting animal or child eats them by mistake.

But the yellow fish campaign is here to change that. It’s raising awareness of what we are doing to our waters, and it’s so simple to get involved!

As the campaign is run completely by volunteers you can do the project whenever you like. All you need to do is stencil a yellow fish next to surface water drains. To do this you do require the permission of the owner of the drain, on public land this will be your local highways department. You could also create leaflets to spread the word to your wider community.

Businesses can get involved too! Why not have your shop or development, more environmentally friendly and educate people too. Improve your environment to improve your profit, sounds good to me for just adding a simple yellow fish.

With a blog filled to the brim with information on marine pollution and individual solutions, how can we make a real, active change? It’s all well and good to do our bit little by little, and it’s a real positive start, but why don’t we inspire and motivate eachother to do more? It could be a few hours actively working at the weekend or sharing information amongst friends. Whatever it is, we can and we should help.

It’s no doubt that everyone loves a good trip to the beach, so why not make it into a trip of being constructive? A popular destination amongst millions of people, beaches can become dump sites. Think about people leaving picnics behind, plastic packaging, bags, cigarette ends – the list is endless! Beach clean ups are actually quite a popular idea – all you do is gather a bunch of people to visit your local beach and pick up all the litter. The more the merrier – afterall, the more people that go, the quicker the job is done! This is a really small yet positive step in the right direction of clearing our seas of litter. Why not check out this guide?

2. Reuse, Reduce, Recycle.

It’s been found that over 80% of marine pollution originates from land, therefore making humans directly responsible. The more rubbish we put into our bins instead of our recycling means that we’re putting more rubbish into our oceans. We personally can easily change this by simply recycling. For example, reusing plastic bags, composting food scraps and recycling glass, plastic, paper, and cans.The more we recycle means the more rubbish that is out of our bins and out of our oceans. Read here for more information.

3. Protect Our Drains.

By protecting our stormwater drains we can make a huge difference in preventing marine pollution. This is because stormwater drains collect and remove rainwater from our streets, so when rubbish is washed into our drains, it flows straight into our rivers and streams, thus flowing into the ocean! We can easily prevent this by not littering in our roads, because everything we throw onto the road will most likely end up in our seas. For example, cigarette butts, oil from cars, pieces of plastics and other bits of rubbish are the most common pieces of litter transported through stormwater drains, and these endlessly pollute our seas. If we refrain from littering and maintain our vehicles in the correct way, then we can easily prevent this from happening!

Quite easily the simplest one of them all, you can easily support a marine charity from the comfort of your own home! There are plenty out there trying to keep our seas clean such as Marine Conservation Society, Sea Life Trust, Oceana, SeaBin, Ocean Conservancy and so many more! Supporting one of these organisations can help towards making our oceans a safer, cleaner and healthier place.

When we think of polluted seas, more often than not we focus on plastic littering; images of plastic bottles and can holders floating on the ocean’s surface. But there’s so much more to it than that. Sewage disposal and toxic chemicals are also huge problems when it comes to marine pollution, and it’s an issue we really must direct more attention to.

When it comes to sewage disposal, many parts of the world leave sewage flows untreated or under treated, allowing this to enter the ocean. For example, 80% of urban sewage discharged into the Mediterranean Sea is untreated. This can cause a whole world of problems, for example human disease and eutrophication. You can read more about eutrophication here; my colleague Kathini wrote all about it in a previous blog post.

When toxic substances enter a body of water, they either dissolve, become suspended in water or get deposited on the bed of the water body. The resulting water pollution causes the quality of the water to deteriorate and affects aquatic ecosystems. This polluted water can then get discharged into rivers, meaning that pollutants enter groundwater, rivers, and other water bodies. This highly contaminated water that has potential to carry disease causing microbes then ultimately ends up in our households, which is obviously a huge problem.

However, it’s not all doom and gloom! There are things you can do to help. For example, in many countries there’s an ongoing campaign to ‘bag it and bin it, don’t flush it!’ in aim to protect rivers and seas by decreasing the number of disposable items flushed down items, such as cotton bud sticks, sanitary towels and napkins which can travel through the sewers and end up back on our beaches. Basically, avoid flushing anything down the toilet that is made of plastic or non biodegradable material!

“Tiny animals at the bottom of the food chain, such as plankton in the oceans, absorb the chemicals as they feed. Because they do not break down easily, the chemicals accumulate in these organisms, becoming much more concentrated in their bodies than in the surrounding water or soil. These organisms are eaten by small animals, and the concentration rises again. These animals are in turn eaten by larger animals, which can travel large distances with their even further increased chemical load.”

One of our main aims on this blog is to educate, and honestly, that is the best thing you can do to help. If you are educated you can choose to make a well informed decision, whether it be the activities you take part in or the products you buy.

My goal in this post isn’t to educate you, it’s to help you find ways to educate yourself.

A great website for information about different types of marine pollution, it contains a collection of multimedia so it really should cater to all tastes. The website is aimed at students but really is suitable for anyone who wants to learn.

Project Aware is a diving group working towards making the ocean cleaner, and also some other issues. As I am diver I find Project Aware a great resource as it educates me on the issues, and give me ideas and projects I can partake in as a diver. It also helps you set up your own event. It allows you to be directly involved in cleaning up our oceans, while they work with the big fish (corporations, governments etc) to develop legislation to stop debris from entering the oceans in the future.

Some fantastic TED talks! I love a TED talk, they can really educate you within ten to twenty minutes and are easy for you to listen to. Marinebio is a non-profit charity organisation, it is run by students, scientists, and everyday people who volunteer. But that doesn’t mean that it’s not as educating and fulfilling as any other site.

There are lots of research papers, websites and books which can teach you everything you want to know. All of the information is out there when you look. I have just given you a couple of websites which can help you on your way to becoming an ocean advocate.

The Seabin Project is a recent Kickstarter project founded by two surfers in the hopes to remove litter from our oceans one pump at a time, but what’s spurred them on to do this?

It’s estimated that by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the sea with one refuse truck’s worth of plastic is dumped into the sea every minute. The rate at which we’re trashing our seas is quite frankly appalling; we’re treating our oceans like our own personal rubbish bin, with around 80 percent of marine litter originating on land with most of that being plastic. This immense amount of land originating litter is causing huge problems, with marine life eating our plastics and thus dying from choking, intestinal blockage and starvation. Microbeads too are toxic sponges and are being consumed by marine life. This means that consumed toxins inevitably make their way up the food chain which could lead to disastrous consequences for human health.

So how does Seabin help with our current and very real pollution and littering issue?

“The Seabin project have designed and made an automated rubbish bin that catches floating rubbish, oil, fuel and detergents. It’s designed for floating docks in the water of marinas, private pontoons, inland waterways, residential lakes, harbours, water ways, ports and yacht clubs and can even be fitted to super yachts and motor yachts!”

This means that any litter that gets dragged into our harbours, marinas or yacht clubs will be sucked into the newly designed rubbish bin that works through a pump system. The fact they can even be fitted to super and motor yachts means that boats can even pick up rubbish whilst sailing the ocean! However, marine ports are the best place to start situating the Seabins as they’re controlled environments with wind currents constantly bringing in rubbish from further out. But how does it logistically work?

“The Seabin is situated at the water’s surface and is plumbed into a shore based water pump on the dock. The water gets sucked into the Seabin bringing all floating debris and floating liquids into the Seabin. We catch all the floating debris inside the Seabin and the water then flows out through the bottom of the bin and up into the pump on the dock. The water then flows through the pump where we have the option of installing an oil/water separator and clean water then flows back into the ocean. This process is constant, operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

The Seabin is situated at the water’s surface and is plumbed into a shore based water pump on the dock. The water gets sucked into the Seabin bringing all floating debris and floating liquids into the Seabin. We catch all the floating debris inside the Seabin and the water then flows out through the bottom of the bin and up into the pump on the dock. The water then flows through the pump where we have the option of installing an oil/water separator and clean water then flows back into the ocean. This process is constant, operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.”

They’ve even designed it using sustainable materials and with a ‘natural fiber catch bag’ that catches all the debris without being too big to prevent someone lifting it out and emptying it. But what if it gets full and doesn’t get emptied? No worry, the Seabin will still attract litter towards it and keep it there.

This project is so so critical and by doing the small task of spreading awareness and sharing the link on your social media outlets, you can help clear the seas one Seabin at a time. You can read even more about the Seabin here.